


Don't Even Have to Try

by ABrighterDarkness



Category: Captain America (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: Blind Date, Didn't Know They Were Dating, Getting Together, M/M, Matchmaker Natasha Romanov, Mutual Pining, Steve Rogers & Natasha Romanov Friendship
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-23
Updated: 2020-06-23
Packaged: 2021-03-04 00:33:59
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,669
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24884647
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ABrighterDarkness/pseuds/ABrighterDarkness
Summary: While it wasn’t the first date that Natasha had set up for him, it was the first that she seemed so invested in, to the point of picking what he wore. Down to the socks that he saw tucked inside his nice but comfortable boots sitting on the floor beside the bed and the coordinating belt that he was absently threading through the loops of his jeans. More than anything, her obvious dedication to doing more than just making a reservation and convincing him to show up seemed to be more than enough to pique his curiosity.
Relationships: Sam Wilson & Sarah Wilson, Steve Rogers & Natasha Romanov, Steve Rogers/Sam Wilson
Comments: 14
Kudos: 65





	Don't Even Have to Try

**Author's Note:**

> So here's another fun one to add to my growing stash SamSteve love. I had quite a bit of fun writing this one out and I hope that you enjoy :)
> 
> This is unbeta'd so any misspells or oddness that you might find are solely on me.

Steve didn’t bother looking up from the book in his hands when the door to his apartment swung open without warning. Despite what social niceties suggested, he had never really minded unannounced visits and, considering they lived in the Tower, it could only be a small handful of people anyway. That there was no knock or announcement from JARVIS narrowed it down quite a bit further. 

A flash of red at the corner of his eye confirmed his suspicions and he glanced up in time to find her perching on the arm of the couch beside him, automatically shifting her legs around to tuck her socked feet under his thighs. It was an odd quirk that had taken him some time to get used to but after the first winter of feeling ice cold toes even through the thick material of his sweatpants, he caught on pretty quick. There were still times that he would playfully tease her about it or make mock-complaints about her cold feet but he didn’t actually mind, not really. 

Once she was settled, Natasha eyed him speculatively for a moment before finally speaking. “There’s nothing on your calendar for this evening,” she said in a casual voice that immediately had Steve’s eyes narrowing suspiciously.

“No,” he confirmed, waving the book in his hand indicatively. “Was planning on a night in with Tolkien.”

“Good,” she smirked, tugging her feet free again and dropping off of the arm of the couch gracefully. 

“What are you doing?” he frowned in wary confusion, eyes tracking her movements as she easily navigated through his apartment to head back toward his bedroom. Suddenly he was feeling justifiably nervous by her sudden interest in his schedule and his bedroom of all things. Steve dropped his book on the cushion beside him and pushed to his feet to follow after her. “Nat?”

“We’ve got an hour,” she said as he hovered uncertainly in the doorway to his room, which as far as Steve was concerned, explained absolutely nothing. “I’m fairly certain I can make you presentable in that amount of time.”

“What’s going on in an hour that I need to be presentable for?” He asked warily as he leaned against the doorframe, folding his arms across his chest nervously. She didn’t answer right away, seemingly too busy digging through his closet, scanning and shoving aside hanger after hanger. “Natasha?”

“I heard you,” she said and somehow even without being able to see her face, Steve could hear her eye roll in her voice. She stepped back with a dark pair of jeans draped over her left arm and a hanger with one of his nicer button-downs gripped in her right. Without sparing him a glance she laid both out on his bed and moved to rummage through his dresser.

“Okay,” he grumbled. “What’s going on, Natasha?”

She paused briefly and looked over her shoulder at him, green eyes scanning him intently. “You ought to jump in the shower before it gets too late. You’ve got charcoal on your face.”

“I will,” Steve replied stubbornly. “Later.”

Natasha shrugged, “If that’s the impression you want to make, go for it.”

“You know, I usually find this odd vagueness of yours endearing,” Steve pointed out and then he grimaced. “Please tell me this isn’t another date?”

“Okay, I won’t tell you then,” Natasha smirked and dropped the gathered socks, underwear and undershirt onto the bed next to the jeans and shirt. “Go shower or do you need my help with that too?”

“Didn’t actually need help dressing myself,” Steve muttered as he headed toward his bathroom with a resigned sigh. He had learned a long time ago that there was no arguing with Nat when she got like this, sometimes it was better just to roll with it.

He showered quickly and efficiently. Though he did take the time to make sure to scrub away the charcoal smudges that Natasha had been kind enough to point out and to shave what stubble had accumulated throughout the day. He stood in the bathroom a moment longer, grumbling quietly under his breath at the realization that his clean underwear was still on his bed where Natasha had piled the rest of his clothes. 

With another resigned sigh, Steve securely wrapped his towel around his waist and exited the bathroom. Natasha was stretched comfortably on the opposite side of his bed, eyes scanning the page of the book he had left on the nightstand--another one of Tolkien’s--and glanced up briefly as he came back into the room. She studied him impassively for a brief moment as he grabbed his underwear from the top of the pile of clothes and tugged them on under the towel. Without saying a word, she shifted her attention back to the book.

While it wasn’t the first date that Natasha had set up for him, it was the first that she seemed so invested in, to the point of picking what he wore. Down to the socks that he saw tucked inside his nice but comfortable boots sitting on the floor beside the bed and the coordinating belt that he was absently threading through the loops of his jeans. More than anything, her obvious dedication to doing more than just making a reservation and convincing him to show up seemed to be more than enough to pique his curiosity. 

He wondered if that was an intentional move on her part as well. It was likely.

He quickly dressed without further prompting and when he sat down on the bed to put on the socks and the boots, Natasha set the book aside and pushed up to sit beside him. Her fingers combed through his hair in efficient strokes, carefully taming the mess that his shower had made of it. When she dropped her hands into her lap, Steve leaned down and finished tying the laces of his boots and then pushed to his feet.

“So do I get any information or is the whole thing a surprise?” He asked curiously. 

Natasha glanced over at the clock on his nightstand, just beside where she had replaced the borrowed book. 5:36 was glowing red on the display. “You have twenty minutes to get there,” she said. “Your date should be there right at six. It’s lowkey and within walking distance. It’ll take you ten minutes if you take your time.”

“Okay,” he said hesitantly, waiting for a little more detail than that.

“Lazy Lizard,” She said with a small, amused smirk at his obvious confusion with the apparent non sequitur. “The sports bar a few blocks from here, Steve, come on keep up,” she teased.

“Oh, right, silly me,” he huffed with a small laugh. 

She grinned and Steve found that he didn’t mind her teasing quite as much. They had an odd friendship, sure, but it was a solid one and those rare grins were more than worth every ounce of teasing that Natasha was able to dish out. “Anyway,” she said. “Six o’clock at the Lazy Lizard. Your date will meet you there and  _ no, _ I’m not giving you any information there. You’re smart when you want to be. You’ll figure it out, I promise.”

“I feel like I should be worried,” Steve quipped. 

“Not this time,” Natasha assured him with a smirk. And then she paused for a moment, her expression turning serious as she spoke again. “Just...do me a favor with this one?”

“What’s that?” he asked curiously. Like everything else about this particular date, the request was unusual. He wasn’t sure if he should be disconcerted that the serious note in her tone and the uniqueness made him want to be more inclined to agree with whatever it was she wanted to ask of him.

“Try,” she said, quietly but firmly. “Whatever thoughts or uncertainties or insecurities fly through that head of yours when you get there...Just try, please. You won’t regret it.”

“This person that I’m supposed to be meeting,” Steve started hesitantly. “Do I know them?”

Natasha just smiled and took a pointed glance at the clock, “I guess you’re about to find out. Better go before you’re late.”

Steve huffed a laugh and shook his head, “Yes, ma’am. I’m goin’.” Before he turned to the bedroom door he paused and looked back, nodding to the book on the nightstand. “You can borrow that, if you want. I finished that one last night.”

“Thanks, I just might,” Natasha said, stretching back across the bed to snatch up the book.

He didn’t bother waiting for her to follow him out. If she wanted to hangout and read, she was more than welcome to but he was fairly certain that she wouldn’t. Even if she waited to make sure that he actually left, she would usually let herself out shortly after. Either way, he wasn’t worried. Steve absently gathered his phone, wallet, and keys, only to drop the keys back onto their hook when he remembered that he was walking and not taking his bike. 

After deciding against taking a jacket, Steve made his way to the elevator and considered the evening ahead on the ride down. He could admit that he was nervous. The previous attempts at dating, both at Natasha’s prompting and his own, hadn’t fared so well. They hadn’t been completely disastrous or anything like that. They had just, for the most part, been extremely  _ awkward. _ Steve hadn’t gone on a date in over a year and could honestly say that the reprieve had been welcome. 

He was also intensely curious, though. Natasha’s odd insistences and the whole way she approached this particular one in comparison to her previous attempts at setting him up had him intrigued. Steve had to wonder who this person was and what it was about them that had Natasha so certain that  _ this _ date would be so much different than the others. Her evasiveness at the question and her insistence that he would know the person when he saw them told him that it was very likely that he knew them, probably more than just in passing. 

But, all things considered, Steve knew a lot of people. Men, women, nonbinary--a welcome term that he hadn’t even known existed until Natasha had assisted him in finding resources during his reintegration. Queer hadn’t necissarily been considered a flattering term in some circles during the 30’s and 40’s but he could very clearly recall how relieving it was to have something as simple as an identifying word that meant he wasn’t alone, wasn’t somehow more broken than his body tried to prove over and over again. He had quietly admitted to Natasha then that he was pleased that others had something like that too. 

The elevator stopped at the ground floor and Steve left the tower through one of the side entrances to avoid as much of the daily foot traffic as possible. 

That had been the first time he had been on the receiving end of one of her true, genuine smiles.

That was beside the point though. The point was that Steve knew a lot of people. That he possibly knew this date didn’t exactly narrow down the list. 

He knew who would be sitting somewhere at that bar waiting for him if this was one of his daydreams that he always felt guilty about. But he was also entirely certain that wasn’t and would never be the case. He pushed the traitorous thoughts aside. It was best not to get his hopes up falsely right before this date that Natasha asked him to at least  _ try _ on. He supposed that if this one failed like all of the previous ones, he still had standing plans to cook and get destroyed in video games with Sam later that week to look forward to. He would look forward to that either way though.

Natasha had been right, it had taken only ten minutes to reach the Lazy Lizard--Steve couldn’t help but snort in amusement at the ridiculous, albeit catchy, name--despite the rush hour foot traffic. He hesitated outside the door for a moment to take a deep breath in hopes of grounding some of his rising nerves. He reached for the door and held it open for a pleasantly laughing group that approached at the same time, nodding politely in response to their polite thank-yous. 

When they passed, Steve steadied himself with another deep breath before following the group into the bar. He took a brief, curious glance around. He hadn’t ever had reason to come by the place before but it was about what he expected. The bar area in the back of the open building with the bar itself stretching out along the back wall, sectioned off tastefully from the regular dining area that filled the front half of the room. The walls were filled with far too many televisions with various memorabilia scattered below and between, some that Steve recognized to some extent but most that he didn’t. 

Steve idly wiped his hands on his jeans, hoping that they wouldn’t be too clammy when he was expected to greet his date. He was jolted from his curious observation by the door opening directly behind him and he quickly scrambled to get out of the way of the newcomer. He turned to apologize only to freeze, panic welling inside him and making it difficult to breathe in a way he hadn’t experienced in years and his body shouldn’t be capable of feeling anymore. Yet it absolutely was.

“Steve,” Sam greeted, clearly just as surprised by Steve’s presence as Steve was of his but appearing considerably less rattled.

“Sam, hey,” he managed with a smile that was likely too close to a grimace. He couldn’t bring himself to focus on that though. Usually, seeing Sam under any context was enough to immediately make his day a hundred times better.  _ Usually, _ Sam showing up unexpectedly in the same place was a good thing, the  _ best of the best things,  _ really. 

Not that day, though. 

Not when Sam was  _ here  _ and Steve was set up on a  _ date _ with someone else and Sam was going to  _ see it happen. _ Steve knew, somewhere in his panic-stricken mind, that his chances with Sam were slim to none on a good day but that didn’t mean he wanted to trash even that  _ slim _ chance. It was the first time in the entire year that Steve had known him that he  _ wasn’t _ actually beyond thrilled to see Sam. “What are-uh-what are you doing here?”

“Just going where I’m told,” Sam said with that easy grin that had Steve hooked and floundering from day one. “I was told to be here at six for some blind date that Sarah thought was a good idea. So here I am.”

“Blind date. Right,” Steve said weakly. Wasn’t that just his luck. Not only was he on a date in the same place and same time that Sam was going to be there but he would also have to deal with Sam  _ also _ being on a date. 

“What about you?” Sam asked curiously as he glanced around the bar, taking it in much like Steve had done moments earlier. 

“Um. Same. Actually,” Steve winced. “Natasha’s doing.”

Sam’s expression froze for a moment and he swallowed thickly before some sort of realization seemed to dawn and his shoulders dropped. His eyes narrowed consideringly and then he laughed. Steve wasn’t entirely certain what was funny. The whole thing was sounding incredibly  _ un- _ funny at the moment. “So what all did Nat tell you about yours?”

“Six at Lazy Lizard and that she wasn’t going to tell me who but I’d know them when I saw them,” Steve answered somewhat reluctantly. He hesitated and decided if it was already a busted night, he might as well go for broke. “And asked me to try.”

“She asked you to do her a favor and that favor was to ‘Just try’ no matter what’s going on in your head at the moment,” Sam said, tone was oddly amused by the whole situation.

“Yeah-ah-pretty much exactly that, actually,” Steve frowned, confusion overtaking a small portion of his anxiety laden brain.

Sam shook his head with another odd laugh and then shoved his hand into the pockets of his jeans and rocked back on his heels. “Yeah. That sounds pretty damn familiar,” Sam said and then looked back to Steve with a grin. Sometimes Steve really wished that he wasn’t so weak for Sam’s smiles. The words that followed, however, drew his spinning mind to a stuttering halt. “Well, here I am, Rogers, you going to ‘just try’ or what?”

Wait. Hold on.  _ What? _

It was only when Sam laughed and his grin widened that Steve realized that he had spoken those words aloud. Steve felt his face heat and winced again. Sam seemed to take pity on him and turned to the hostess who quickly directed them to a booth near the bar. Though not before Steve noticed the way that she very carefully didn’t look in his direction and her lips curled in, her shoulders shaking just slightly. Steve wondered how he was still standing upright with the amount of blood that was surely rushing to his face when he realized that the poor woman had clearly overheard the entire exchange and had just witnessed his entire mind imploding.

As he settled awkwardly into the booth opposite Sam, the craziness of the situation finally clicked in his head. “Oh,” he managed lamely. 

“Figure it out, yet, genius?” Sam teased.

Yes, he was fairly certain that he had and  _ now _ his mind felt like it was spiraling for an entirely different reason. “Nat...Nat set me up on a blind date,” Steve said slowly, still attempting to get his mind to believe the words he was saying. “With you.”

“Bingo,” Sam smirked. “And I got set up on a blind date with you and now here we are.”

“But,” Steve frowned in confusion and shook his head in an attempt to clear some of the chaos in his mind so he could think somewhat coherently. 

“That bothers you?” Sam asked, wary hesitation creeping into his tone for the first time since they had met at the door.

“No,” Steve answered quickly. That was the last impression he would want to give. It was that this was the exact opposite of ‘bothering’ him that kept throwing him. “No, not at all. I’m just...surprised. That’s all. I didn’t think…” He cut himself off sharply and offered the most genuine smile he could manage at the moment. “No, it doesn’t definitely bother me at all, Sam.”

“You didn’t think what?” Sam pressed.

“That you were interested?” Steve said after a moment of hesitation with a small shrug. “In men. In me.”

Sam snorted a laugh, “And that’s exactly why Sarah and Natasha are apparently much smarter than either of us.” He leaned back into his seat, settling more comfortably and shrugged, “Here I was thinking the same thing.”

Steve sat in stunned silence for a long moment and then huffed a laugh. “How long?”

“Since you and Nat gatecrashed at mine,” Sam shrugged. “You?”

Steve eyed Sam as he considered his answer. He couldn’t help the small smirk that crept onto his expression as he answered, “On your left.”

“Oh shut the hell up,” Sam groaned, though any heat in the words was eased by the accompanying laughter. When his amusement calmed, Sam shook his head again and smiled, “We’re a couple of idiots, aren’t we?”

“Seems that way,” Steve agreed, his previous anxiety fading only to be replaced by a sense of sheer joy. He shoved the feeling down to something a little more reasonable and tilted his head in thought. “Should we be concerned that your sister and Natasha are scheming together?”

“I’m concerned anytime my sister is scheming, period. Sisters are terrifying, don’t you let anyone tell you otherwise. Natasha does make the whole thing a little freakier, though.” Sam responded. “To be honest, I couldn’t even begin to guess which one of them initiated it.”

“I want to say Nat,” Steve admitted. “But everything you’ve told me about Sarah makes me think that they’re both clever enough that it could go either way. And that the two of them would probably get along entirely too well for either of our sanities.”

“Now  _ there _ is a scary thought,” Sam agreed.

From there, the conversation stretched from Sarah and Natasha’s meddling to Sam updating Steve on the rest of his family--which had become a familiar conversation over the past year--to new movies and music and so on. It struck Steve as odd that despite the fact that it was  _ actually a date _ , it didn’t really feel much different at all from their usual outings together. Once the revelations of the night had settled, they had easily fallen into their normal patterns of conversation.

When their food was brought out, the plates were nudged as much as possible to the center--a difficult task considering the number, Steve always did feel guilty about it but Sam was good at using their conversations to distract him from the guilt. They had both ordered individually, like they always did, but when the food was on the table it always turned into a bit of a free-for-all. 

They talked more while they ate and even the lulls weren’t awkward or uncomfortable. Though, occasions where the silences  _ were _ awkward or uncomfortable were always pretty rare and usually only followed some of their more intense conversations. That was one of the many, many things that Steve had grown to love about their friendship. There was a level of comfort with Sam that Steve really hadn’t managed with anyone else, save for possibly Natasha. But even that was somehow different, though Steve wasn’t sure he would be able to accurately articulate how it was different, were he asked. 

It wasn’t necessarily always  _ easy _ , the way they seemed to work. 

They disagreed plenty and their conversations weren’t always pleasant and easygoing. 

There were some things--habits, turn of phrases, and such--from his youth that Steve had unwittingly brought forward with him into the new century that Sam was very adamantly against and had been quick to correct him on from the very start of their acquaintance. Initially, it was stunning and oddly relieving that someone was able to see past the shield and the mantle enough to recognize that there was an actual  _ human being _ underneath that was still human enough not to be considered beyond reproach without being condescending. Once the newness faded, though, Steve could admit that there were a few times where the correction prickled at his pride and temper in an almost automatic, knee-jerk kind of way. 

And then there were some things, some modern topics or issues that Sam would try to discuss that Steve plain and simply didn’t understand. Try as he might, seventy years of all-inclusive history was a difficult task to complete when it covered such a broad range of topics. There were days when it felt almost humiliating when it was pointed out how much he still didn’t know that he didn’t know. 

But, prideful as he knew he sometimes was, it was surprisingly simple to let himself take Sam’s criticism and Natasha’s nudging in the way it was meant and used it as an opportunity to learn another new facet of the new world he found himself living in. Sometimes that meant asking Sam, or sometimes Natasha, for further information and other times he managed to find the information on his own. Though the latter often meant that he cycled back to asking Sam or Natasha to help him understand the oftentimes overwhelmingly contradictory information available on the internet.

He was well aware that there were many people who would have easily washed their hands of him, grown tired and irritated with the seemingly unending battle against the long list of things that he needed to be retaught and to relearn. In a way, SHIELD  _ had _ essentially given up on his reintegration training fairly quickly, though Steve still couldn’t quite tell if it was intentional on their part. Leaving him somewhat ignorant could, to some extent, leave him more dependent and pliable to what they wanted him to know, after all. 

Sam had been easily as imperative to his modern education and his understanding of the modern world as Natasha had been. And definitely more than SHIELD or anyone else had been. Steve wasn’t sure why or what it was specifically that gave the two of them the sheer amount of patience that dealing with him seemed to require but he was abundantly grateful for it. He knew without a doubt that he was more adjusted, a better friend, leader, and an overall better man thanks to their efforts.

Still, it was pretty easy for frustration with one another to rise when they managed to stumble into those conversations. And they absolutely had on more than one occasion. Somehow, though, Sam hadn’t given up and thrown in the towel, much to Steve’s overwhelming relief. They had figured out early on how to actually talk  _ and _ to listen and learn when those hot topics arose and outside of those topics. 

All things considered, it shouldn’t have come as a surprise that Steve had fallen hard and fast for the man. Maybe it should have told him something much sooner and without Natasha’s assistance.

When the plates of food were cleared and the bill came--which Steve insisted on paying, it was his turn after all--they slid out of their respective booths and headed toward the door. Steve felt himself blush again when he met the woman at the hostess’ stand and she smirked in amusement as they passed. 

Back out on the sidewalk, Sam glanced his way, “Mine?”

Steve nodded in agreement without hesitation and fell easily into step in a way that was entirely familiar. He had the odd sense once again that there was actually very little difference between this time and all of the other times that he and Sam had hung out together. The only difference that Steve was able to pinpoint was that they hadn’t touched at all throughout the evening when usually at least small, innocuous contact between them was incredibly common. 

Mentally pushing back against the bolt of self-consciousness, Steve reached the short distance between them to lace his fingers through Sam’s. When Sam’s hand tightened around his and then relaxed but didn’t release, Steve smiled and relief rushed through him followed immediately by the fondness and affection that never failed to overtake him. That he had spent  _ months and months  _ trying and failing to pretend didn't exist. Realization suddenly clicked solidly in his mind that he didn't even have to  _ try _ to pretend anymore. He wondered if he ought to be embarrassed by just how long it had taken him to come to that realization. 

As usual, it didn’t really take long to make it to the subway or to Sam’s place, for that matter. Throughout the short trip, whatever hesitation had lingered seemed to evaporate and the comfortable, casual touches that seemed to have come naturally to them returned. 

Sam unlocked the front door, entering first and leaving the door open behind him for Steve to follow. It was only after Steve had closed the door behind them and turned forward again that they seemed to veer away from the ’familiar’ part. Sam still stood just in front of him, eyeing him in a way that Steve recognized from months of watching and wanting. Steve reached out at the same moment that Sam took a step forward, closing the space between them. He couldn't have said who moved, or if maybe they both did, and he found that he really didn't care.

Because kissing Sam, it turned out, was every bit as wonderful as Steve had imagined it would be. The first press of lips was tentative and chaste. Steve had only meant to let his hands rest lightly at Sam’s waist but at the touch he gave into the urge to draw him in nearer. Sam shuffled closer, hands splayed over his ribs to nudge Steve backwards until he felt his back pressed against the door. His grip tightened automatically and he could feel Sam’s smile at the small, startled sound that he made.

Steve didn’t even attempt to suppress his own smile as he drew back from the kiss for just a moment, using the opportunity to sink into the pleasant thrill that was buzzing in his mind at the wonderfully unexpected turn the evening had taken. It left him feeling bolstered and confident.

He slid one hand around Sam’s back, drawing him as close as was possible and raised the other to frame his jaw before tipping his head forward. This time he didn’t feel the same hesitation, instead, all he felt was the pressing urge to kiss Sam Wilson the way he had spent far, far too long imagining. Sam made a low, soft sound and Steve could feel his fingers curl tightly into the fabric of his shirt as the kiss deepened and intensified. 

Steve was very nearly positive that he could easily spend hours exactly like this.

When they broke the kiss, they were both breathing more heavily than they had been when they had begun. Steve dropped his hand from Sam’s face to join the other at the small of his back and tilted his head forward until it rested against Sam’s, leaning more heavily against the door behind him. He knew that the smile he wore was bordering on ridiculous and undeniably smitten but he really couldn’t bring himself to care. Not anymore. It didn’t matter what his expressions might be revealing. As far as Steve was concerned, he had spent more than enough time trying to keep it hidden away.

“I’ve wanted to do that for a long time,” Steve admitted quietly.

“Yeah,” Sam agreed. “Yeah, me too.”

Steve was sure that, at some point, there would need to be some sort of conversation to be had. That they would need to discuss this change that really wasn’t much of a change at all. Actually, it probably wouldn’t hurt to figure out how they managed this long acting as they had to the point where this  _ wasn’t _ really a change in dynamics so much as a possible change in terminology. Either way, he was sure that those conversations were due but for the moment all Steve could think about was leaning in for another kiss.

So he did.

Eventually, they did finally manage to make it further than the front door and settled together on the couch. Their shoes were kicked off into a pile under the coffee table and the tv was turned on to some movie that had looked passingly interesting. Steve didn’t know what the movie was, he didn’t particularly care either. Frankly, the Avengers alert on his phone could sound and he thought that he would have been very hard pressed to give it the required amount of attention. 

Not when kissing at the door somehow moved and turned into necking on the couch. There was something undeniably addictive about the feel of Sam’s solid form over him, strong legs pressed into the couch cushions on either side of his hips and Sam’s warm hands against his skin where he had tugged Steve’s shirt loose from his pants in order to touch. The feel of Sam under his hands where they clung to Sam’s hips, determinedly keeping him pulled and pressed as close as they could manage. 

It was almost as though every ounce of restraint they had clung to previously had vanished leaving nothing but the long-suppressed  _ want _ . Steve wasn’t sure he would ever get enough.

Unfortunately, the sensation of Sam’s blunt nails drawing down his sides and the low groan that Steve could all but  _ taste _ in their kiss _ ,  _ drew both shivers and the sudden realization that they were probably going to need to stop and soon before he managed to embarrass himself. Steve reluctantly pulled back, drawing the kiss to an end, and dropped his head back to rest against the couch to catch his breath and attempt to regain control of himself.

“You alright?” Sam asked, breathing just as heavily as Steve was as his hands shifted from gripping to more soothing strokes down his sides.

“Very, very alright,” Steve answered with a smile. “Maybe too alright.”

He felt Sam’s body shake against him when he laughed softly, “Yeah. ‘too alright’ sounds about right.”

Steve settled back more comfortably and willed his mind and body to calm, his hands almost absently stroking and petting over Sam’s thighs and hips on either side of him. Sam exhaled heavily and leaned more fully into him, Steve thought that maybe he was just as eager to prolong the close contact. It was several long moments of mostly comfortable silence save for the movie still playing in the background before Steve found the nerve to ask the question that had been spiraling through his mind ever since they sat down at the bar. “We’re really doing this?”

“I’m hoping by ‘this’ you mean that we’re together now because if you think that I’m to just give up after it took us  _ this long _ to get here, you haven’t been paying very close attention,” Sam answered with an amused smirk.

“Just didn’t want to assume,” Steve smiled. “I think I’ve wanted you for way too long to leave it to chance and risk some sort of misunderstanding.”

“Look at you, being all cautious and thinking ahead. I’m impressed, Steve,” Sam teased, laughing when Steve narrowed his eyes and delivered a sharp pinch to his ass in a playful rebuke. “Yeah, we’re really doing this, Steve.”

Steve knew that the cheesy, smitten grin from earlier was most likely stretched across his face at the confirmation and knowing that they were both on the same page, but he couldn’t help it. He lifted his hands from Sam’s hips and snaked his arms around his waist instead, sitting forward until he was able to tug him into a tight hug. Steve sighed shakily but happily when Sam’s arms wound around his shoulders and hugged just as tightly. 

Their attentions were distracted when both of their phones went off simultaneously where they sat on the coffee table. That was odd. Sam withdrew slightly from the hug and they exchanged wary glances before Sam leaned back, letting Steve’s arms help keep him balanced, and grabbed both devices. He handed over Steve’s as he sat back up.

He reluctantly withdrew one arm from around Sam to accept the phone and swiped over the screen to unlock it, distracted slightly when Sam snorted in amusement. Steve opened the message from Natasha that had come through with the alert to find a picture of Sarah Wilson and Natasha sitting together on what Steve only belatedly realized was  _ his _ couch, wine glasses in each of their hands with a caption that simply said “You’re welcome”. When he looked back up, Sam had turned his phone so that the screen faced him with an identical message from Sarah. He grinned and showed his own phone.

“Sisters are scary,” Steve said, repeating Sam’s earlier statement.

“And now you know,” Sam agreed. He frowned slightly and took a closer look at the picture. “Is that your couch?”

“Pretty sure that’s my wine too,” Steve confirmed with a laugh. The thought didn’t bother him as much as maybe it should, as much as it would other people. And maybe, if it was anyone other than Natasha, he might be a little more annoyed about someone making themselves at home in his apartment while he was out. But since it  _ was _ Natasha--and Sarah--he couldn’t quite bring himself to feel ruffled. Just amused and fond. And maybe a little bit of resignation at the teasing but that was another matter entirely.

Sam tugged his phone away and leaned back to drop both phones back onto the table. When he sat back up he had an odd smile tugging at his lips that Steve wasn’t quite able to interpret. “Guess that means you're staying,” Sam said and the smile widened.

Steve hummed faux-thoughtfully and then shrugged with a grin of his own. “Guess so,” he replied. “Who knows what those two would have in store for me if I went back now.”

“Every imaginable way of saying ‘I told you so’ for starters,” Sam smirked.

“Probably,” Steve agreed, though he thought that it was likely another intentional move on their part to try to make sure that Steve  _ didn’t _ go home. 

“Suppose we could try to figure out what the hell this movie’s supposed to be about,” Sam said with a smirk.

“We could,” Steve nodded, his hands resuming the slow strokes over Sam’s hips and thighs with a firmer pressure than before. “It’s a good movie.”

“I’m sure you’ve been watching it the whole time,” Sam said sarcastically.

“Maybe,” Steve smirked, nudging the bridge of his nose under Sam’s jaw and nuzzling gently against the sensitive skin before trailing slow kisses over the same area. He smiled when he felt Sam’s body shudder slightly against his own and his head tipped back to allow him better access.

He felt a rush of smug pleasure at the slightly breathless note in Sam’s voice when he spoke again. “Seems like you’ve got other ideas.”

“Maybe,” Steve repeated between kisses. “Maybe you’re more interesting than the movie.”

“Just maybe, huh,” Sam said and Steve could hear his teasing smile.

“Definitely not just maybe,” Steve clarified easily.

He could honestly say that he was still more than a little thrown that they had somehow gone from spending almost an entire year tiptoeing around this  _ thing  _ between them to having Sam seated in his lap and his lips still tingling and slightly bruised from earlier. All in the space of a single evening. Not that he was complaining. He couldn’t really think of any better turn of events. A typical dinner out together, that admittedly started out far more awkward and uncomfortable than usual, with their usual unending conversations and then this? Steve felt overwhelmed in the best possible way.

He shifted his attention from Sam’s throat to across his jaw, trailing kisses until he could catch Sam’s lips again, falling happily into the multitude of sensations and feelings. The taste and feel of lips and tongue against his own. The coarse scratch of Sam’s beard and the way his legs seemed to automatically tense and his hands gripped at his shoulders more firmly. Impulsively, Steve shifted the grip of his hands to the underside of Sam’s thighs and stood from the couch, easily taking Sam’s weight.

“Oh fuck,” Sam swore breathlessly as he pulled from the kiss, his legs wrapping tightly around Steve’s waist. “Warn a guy, Rogers,” he muttered before immediately tipping forward to kiss Steve soundly.

Steve was interested to note that nothing in Sam’s words or expression seemed to suggest that Sam was bothered about being picked up. Unless he was drastically misreading the signs, Steve was almost certain that Sam actually  _ liked it _ and was equally surprised by the fact. He made a mental note to ask about it later. 

“Bedroom’s that way,” Sam muttered against his lips when he apparently stood still in the middle of the living room for a little too long. “In case you forgot.”

He hadn’t forgotten and he knew that Sam knew that too but gamely followed the directions given. And if he showed off how easy it actually was for him to carry Sam the entire way--just to test the theory, of course--that was his business, wasn’t it?


End file.
